This is a discussion on ESPN Poker WSOP seat within the online poker forums, in the Poker Rooms section; Thought I would let everybody know ESPN has a poker game that is play money. You can win a wsop seat the very hard way

I was all fired up to see that ESPN had launched a poker room with several weeks of qualifying tournaments to fill the tables for a Grand Finale. A $10,000 WSOP Main Event buyin, airfare, hotel, and expense money awaits one lucky soul who can emerge the champion. My enthusiasm was quickly dampened by the hideous website.

This is one of the worst online poker rooms I've ever encountered. The server is badly overmatched. Log-in's during peak times are impossible. I have registered a half-dozen times for the nightly Big Play multi-table tournament, only to get booted from the site before play began and finding that I can't get back in. Even if I'm lucky enough to qualify to play on Sunday, I have little hope that I could even get into the site to take my seat.

Great idea. Horrible execution. For the most part, a huge waste of time.

#10

16th April 2005, 12:30 AM

Flipper33 [29]

Online Poker at: FullTiltPoke

re: Poker & ESPN Poker WSOP seat

I agree, I haven't even bothered trying out ESPN.

#11

16th April 2005, 1:00 AM

tizzybizzy [88]

Poker at: Full Tilt

i've given it a try and the best way to describe the play there is "partypoker play money" at best. Lots of all ins with crap cards you know stuff like that.

#12

17th April 2005, 3:07 PM

Wojo007 [15]

Online Poker at: poker host

Doesn't sound worth trying.

#13

17th April 2005, 3:15 PM

officerhoyt [52]

Poker at: Royal Vegas

it is stupid i went out and looked at it and i dont think i would try it.

#14

19th April 2005, 6:47 AM

webber286 [49]

Online Poker at: Pokerroom

Played there a few times. Basically if you can log in and get to a table (a challenge in itself), you can expect the first few hands to be all-ins. So, if you stay out of the way, you end up playing against the final 4 or 5 players, so not very realistic.

To qualify for the "real" tournament, you have to either win 6 single table tournaments or 1 multi-table tournament in the space of one week. Then you qualify for the Sunday tournament and the top so many finishers qualify for the final tournament, where 1 lucky sole gets the 10,000 WSOP prize.

#15

19th April 2005, 1:15 PM

smd173 [1,520]

Poker at: Parx

Game: 8-Game

re: Poker & ESPN Poker WSOP seat

Just to follow up a bit...you have to win 5 STT's or 1 MTT or play 750 hands in a ring game in a one week period. Then you qualify for Sunday's tourney which has about 1500 people in it. The top 50 from that qualify for the final. They've been running this since March. The final is on May 1st. It works out so there is 1500 people in the final. 1st place gets the $10K WSOP seat.

The servers are garbage and so are the players. If you expect to play poker and use your skills to get in, forget it. It's an all in fest. And once you realize that, you'll be going all in with anything too. Because it's not worth sitting around for 45 minutes to get one win when there is a dope there with 6K in chips that is willing to call you with 92 off and hits a runner runner for a flush.

If you are serious about playing on this site, the best way to qualify is through the ring games. Even though you need to play 750 hands, just got to the 5 card stud room (hands go very fast). Then maybe you can luck out on Sunday. And then maybe you can luck out on May 1st.

#16

19th April 2005, 8:38 PM

webber286 [49]

Online Poker at: Pokerroom

Thanks for the clarification. Got confused because you get 6 points for winning a STT, and need 30 points total. You get 30 for winning a single MTT. Haven't tried one of those, but that would seem to be a decent way to get in. The STT are pretty annoying with so many all-ins off the first couple of hands. Gets rid of a few players quickly, but also doubles up the others, so you end up with one or two players with a big stack after just a few hands. If you play the STT conservatively, you can always get to the final 3, then it's usually a little more challenging.

#17

21st April 2005, 2:18 PM

CHAD8 [18]

Poker at: Ub

RAMMERJAMMER has it exactly right. Im a sports fan and watch ESPN regularly for sporting events, when i seen that they had a site i figured LETS TRY IT OUT maybe win a seat in WSOP. FOR FREE TOO. YA the only good thing about the whole site is that ITS FREE. NEVER WORKS RIGHT< SERVER PROBLEMS, CANCELS TOUNRYS 1 min before they start and there FULL, Well I can say 1 thing, that program no longer takes up space in my harddrive. The WSOP seat is a great prize, but id rather pay to get in a qualifying tourny @ UB or STARS then put up with that sites BS.

PEACE

CHAD8

#18

21st April 2005, 11:59 PM

ytseshred [16]

Online Poker at: UB

Yea, I couldn't even create a screen name the server was so lagged and backed up there. Maybe I'll go get some dinner and see if it went through by the time I get back...fat chance though.

To be fair, I will point out that ESPN has made software upgrades to their Game Client program on a weekly basis since this promotional contest started. I have detected gradual improvement in the site up to last week, when another version was released. There was a quantum leap in my ability to log on and stay logged on with my dial-up connection. I was even able to log into the nightly 8:00 Big Play mtt, which was previously impossible. So, the site still leaves a lot to be desired compared to "professional" online poker rooms, but is much more playable than before. I have renewed my participation after writing it off a couple of weeks ago. It may be a long shot, but somebody's got to win it and your chances go from slim to zero if you don't sit down.

Based on the feedback I'm seeing, it almost doesn't sound worth the hassle when I play at much more reliable sites. But, then again, who knows. Maybe I'll give it a shot just to see. I'd hate to make a decision without having the right facts in hand.